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Last Updated: Aug 17th, 2008 - 22:35:49 |
Healthy eating habits seem to be the very last thing kids would like to try their hands on. Society is partly to blame for this.
With a seemingly heightened commercialism on junk food these days on television and various forms of advertisements, it is likely that your children would prefer anything junky over healthy.
It’s hard to ask kids to eat fruits and vegetables when candies, donuts, chocolates, ice creams and cakes are lurking around, highly tempting to them. So what can make them eat healthy foods?
With a little fine-tuning of some of our habits like cooking, food preparation, shopping, and eating, we can actually get the kids to sink their teeth into something more appropriate for them. There are a few tested tricks which you may try, and get your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables than junk foods.
Junk food, we have to admit, tastes better for kids than most healthy forms of food. So a way to persuade your children to eat more of the healthier stuff is to make them taste just as good for them. Cheese is a good taste enhancer which, when added where suited, makes certain dishes friendlier to your kids’ taste buds.
You can try adding melted cheese on top of most steamed vegetables to make them taste better. You can also try healthier sweetener options, like honey, instead of refined sugar to sweeten your cooking. There are available seasonings in the market that contains no MSG or sodium in them; just read the label carefully to know what goes into your cooking.
Getting your kids to eat most fruits is not at all that difficult. Remember that most of their favorite candies have fruity flavors in them. Kids naturally love anything that’s sweet and tangy; the problem is they tend to stick only to one or two fruits that they like.
To solve this dilemma, try switching up the available fruits in the kitchen one at a time. For instance, make oranges available for a couple of days, then switch to pears, then to peaches, and so on. In this way, your kids will get accustomed to a variety of fruits and fruit flavors that they will eventually like.
One more thing that will make your kids eat healthier foods is when they see you eating healthy foods yourself. Kids look up to their parents, or any adult for that matter, and try to imitate them. Be it on the way adults dress up, talk, move and eat, they serve as role models for their young. So show them you enjoy eating healthy food during meal times, and let them know that it’s good for them.
Fill your shopping cart with healthy stuff. Spend more time in grocery aisles that carry grains, cereals, fibers, milk, juices, fruits and vegetables. Try not to shop when you are craving for junk food. Chances are your shopping cart will reach the cashier filled with only junk.
Most grocery stores today offer a section full of all-natural and organic food items. Next time you are shopping for dinner, try looking for substitute ingredients in such section in the grocery stores. Try to focus where the fresh and healthy stuff are when shopping for food items.
Try to check out new recipes for cooking healthy. They add a lot of the good stuff in the ingredients for meals that are not only delicious, but also nutritious. Get your kids to try some of them and, in no time, they will get to enjoy eating healthy.
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